Thousands will attend and hundreds of thousands of dollars are expected to be raised.

The 66th Annual Friends of the Library of Hawaii Book Sale, also known as the McKinley Book Sale, begins on Saturday.

Books of all shapes and sizes will be available and plenty of them will be flying off the shelves, bringing in a pretty penny.

“This book sale brings in over $200,000. But just those three programs alone cost over $100,000 a year,” Friends of the Library of Hawaii executive director Byrde Cestare said.

Cestare is talking about the summer, fall, and spring reading programs available at a nearby library. That’s where the annual book sale comes into play.

“The state library budget basically covers facilities and personnel. Everything else comes from other monies. And what we provide is the statewide programs. So when you go to the summer reading program, which is huge across our state this summer, that is funded by the Friends of the Library,” Cestare said.

The book sale seems to be getting bigger every year.

The Friends of the Library of Hawaii organization is constantly looking for new ways to bring in cash.

“For the first time ever, we have Hawaii State Federal Credit Union as our title sponsor. So they make very generous monetary donations,” Friends of the Library of Hawaii co-chairperson Nobu Kawada said.

E-readers are gaining in popularity on traditional books. Did you know state libraries have more than 60,000 titles to download for free?

“But even with that there are people who want to hold a book. They like that tangible act of experience of reading a book, going back a page, going through it again,” Cestare said.

“With the recycling of the used books. You know with all the book stores going out of business. This is one of the best services provided through the state,” Kawada said.